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Feb 28, 2013

Today is the last installment of the Post-it Note poetry challenge. It’s not without some sadness that I compiled this last poem. I will be continuing on writing poetry but perhaps not on this blog. Though each post has sustained the same amount of hits as non poetry posts, they don’t seem to generate commentary and they don’t fall within the purview of the blog.

So to February I bid a fond farewell and offer you Friendship Found a poem dedicated to the wonderful and vibrant poets at Post It Note Poetry

Friendships Found

A pattern seeking hominid

my mind does seek some greater plan,

some great and noble path laid out

a gift from God, or some such being.

But though, my thoughts are lead as such

for at the centre, me, it places

it is but chance and choice that leads

to merry meetings, moments seized.

That I should chance to find my way

to minds and hearts as true as yours

without so much a guiding hand

makes friendships found, all the sweeter.

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Feb 27, 2013

I’m so late on this news that Fablecroft are already taking preorders on the One Small Step Anthology and Jo Anderton’s The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories. You can check out the TOC of One Small Step here. I think you’ll agree its a killer collection by the names alone.

The Bone Chime Song is one of my favourite Anderton shorts, so I’am pretty much predisposed to picking up this one as well.

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Splashdance Silver, the book that birthed the writing career of the talented Tansy Rayner Roberts is now available from a number of online stores. Check out Tansy’s post here.

So here’s a thing.

Fifteen years ago (YES REALLY) when I was not yet out of my teens (just), I wrote a book and entered a competition and by a blinding stroke of right-place-right-time I won. My fluffy comic fantasy adventure romp about a pirate queen in the making was published in 1998 and it and set me on the course of a writing career.

Now, thanks to FableCroft Publishing and the wonders of the internet,Splashdance Silver – Book 1 of the Mocklore Chronicles, is about to be officially back in print. Well, e-ink, anyway!

With serendipitous timing Tim Jones has announced a call for submissions for The Stars Like Sand, a collection of speculative fiction poetry.

The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry - Call for Submissions

They're heeeere! Cross-posted from my co-editor's blog, here are the full submission guidelines for forthcoming anthology The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry. Australians, and expatriate Australians, are welcome to submit up to three poems for the anthology. The closing date for submissions is 4 June 2013. Make sure to read the full guidelines before you submit, and have fun out there!

THE ANTHOLOGYThe Stars Like Sand is a planned anthology of Australian speculative poetry. Speculative poetry is poetry in the science fiction, fantasy, horror and related genres. (Please see below for a fuller definition.) It is intended that the anthology will include both new and previously-published poetry, and include a historical survey of the field. The anthology is intended for publication in 2014.The anthology will be published by IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) of Brisbane, a leading Australian poetry publisher. IP previously published Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand in 2009 (see http://www.ipoz.biz/Titles/Voy.htm). Further information about IP is below.The editors are New Zealand poet Tim Jones, who co-edited Voyagers, and Australian poet P. S. Cottier.

It’s not often you’ll get to hear me being on the other side of the microphone, so take you chance while it’s here. I was interviewed by Emma Craven of E-Book Revolution awhile ago about …well a whole host of issues check the main page for the show notes.

If you’d like to hear me ramble on stream the interview from the player below or Download it here:

Feb 26, 2013

Ok, am really beginning to enjoy iambic tetrameter. It will be sad when Post-It note poetry month is over as I have enjoyed the challenge. This next one was a little too long for one post it so I present it without a picture, for your enjoyment.

Summer Squall

A summer squall is rolling in

A subtle draft, a pleasant breeze,

has turned into a broiling thing

of heated words and brimming tears

The pressure builds and peace is rent,

the squall pulls in a thousand thoughts

from petty showers not quite yet spent

and love is lost, as battle's fought.

But like, some old heroic tale

of Gods or Titans locked in war

This summer squall begins to fall;

cool tears, warm limbs, and love once more.

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First published in 2001, Archangel Protocol has been brought back to life through the existence of a pirated electronic text. It’s now legally available through outlets such as Wizards Tower Books.

That techno wizardry of some description was involved in the salvage of Morehouse’s text is somewhat ironic given the post-apocalyptic tale that she gives us with the Archangel Protocol. Morehouse delivers a solid tale that has aged remarkably well.

It’s largely detective fiction set in a hyper connected world living on after a third world war. It draws strongly on cyberpunk themes( and I would probably classify it as such) – a hyper connected world, avatars running around in cyberspace, hackers etc., but also serves up some interesting ideas and commentary on religion and politics in an American context.

Morehouse’s vision of the future, its politics and the state of religions affairs, is plausible fresh and certainly still relevant 13 years on. Even the technology, or more precisely the way social media is presented in the book doesn’t miss the mark by all that much.

Where it came a little unstuck for me was in the religious plot. This is more a personal issue for me and not any real reflection on the author. Give me witch kings and wizards and I have no problem suspending my disbelief, the minute we start talking angels in a theological sense and including them in a story I begin to lose interest. Perhaps it’s because I view Archangel Protocol as more science fiction than fantasy, because the “world” is closer to our own, that I have a mental speed bump here.

That being said the metaphysical content in the book is fairly ecumenical, the thrust very liberal – the way I prefer my religions to be.

Another good point is its treatment of gay and transgender characters, the world may be harsh to those living outside the very strictly defined norm, but Morehouse presents sympathetic and strong characters from these minority groups.

If you pine for cyberpunk but want to leave behind the mirror shades and the 1980’s then took a look at Archangel Protocol, I enjoyed the reading despite the speed bump. Would I read more Morehouse? Definitely.

This book was provided by Wizards Tower Books free of charge.

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Feb 24, 2013

Anywho, I was able to borrow Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled from my local online eBook library. It has one of the best sections on Iambic meter I have read in a while. His first couple of chapters would make ideal material for a senior lesson in my view. But on with the poem, written in iambic tetrameter.

Winged lives wagered

Two roosters crowed a dueling songand mornings break still yet to come,I lay and watched the stars explodeas with my hands I rubbed at sleepthat glued lids shut in pleasant dreams.With fitful breath I did, it seemsup on the name of demons callfor plagues of mites or chicken flu.For sleepless nights can lead a thought,to winged lives wagered and souls bought.

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Simply place an order before midnight Monday the 25th of February (wherever you are in Australia) with the promotion code BIRTHDAY and you will receive free shipping on your order. The promotion code can be used as many times as you, or your family and friends, want on any orders between now and then.To receive free shipping on any order YOU MUST TYPE the WORD: BIRTHDAY

Feb 23, 2013

There’s been a few posts from authors already letting us know what they have produced that is eligible.

What iz teh Ditmarz?

The Ditmar Award (formally the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Award; formerly the "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award") has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Natcon to recognise achievement in Australian science fiction (including fantasy and horror) and science fiction fandom. They are named for Ditmar "Dick" Jenssen, an Australian fan and artist, who financially supported the awards at their inception. (Source:http://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_Award).

The times they are a changing?

Fandom is changing, as is publishing. Where once somebody would have sweated blood to produce a fanzine using theschool work a photocopier and hand stapler, then posted them out to a mailing list. Now, well now we have even seen professional magazines like Aurealis abandon print and much fan discussion has moved online.

While some may argue that since the barriers to publication have dropped, so have standards I'd counter with - access has improved and science fiction readers are a pretty diverse an sophisticated lot capable of sorting wheat from chaff.

Who’s eligible"?

You can check out the eligibility list here. If any of your favourite authors are missing (remember the rules for eligibility though) feel free to make a suggestion in the comments and I can add it to the list. The Ditmar rules are located here.

Nominations

You will note it’s a fairly comprehensive form and you have to be known, or active in fandom to nominate. My physical attendance at fan events has been limited until recently owing to living very remotely.

But my blogging and participation online I believe constitutes being active and so should it for you dear reader, who may never have been able to attend a convention, yet contribute to the conversation through forum discussions, comments and perhaps your own blog/publications.

There’s a swathe of eligible works, from people I respect and know, to people and publications I have never heard of. The more the merrier, we want a robust field to chose from.

I won’t be at the Natcon this year, but last years ceremony was a blast with the co-comparing of Ian Mond and Kirstyn McDermott. It was a shock and honour to be nominated twice. This year I expect the competition to be stiff as there is just so much quality being produced in Australia from the professional to the fan writer.

Sea Hearts or as its titled in the northern hemisphere – The Brides of Rollrock Island, has been longlisted for the Inaugural Stella Prize. The prize will be awarded on the 16th of April and the winning author will receive $50,000 for their efforts.

The Stella Prize will be an annual prize celebrating Australian women’s contribution to literature. It is named after Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin and is partly modelled on the very successful UK Orange Prize. Both non-fiction and fiction books by Australian women will be eligible to enter.

The prize will reward one female writer, the winner of The Stella Prize, with a significant monetary prize of $50,000. The Stella Prize also seeks to raise the profile and sales of books by women generally, and specifically through The Stella Prize longlist and shortlist. In doing so, The Stella Prize will encourage future generations of women writers by increasing the recognition of Australian women’s writing and providing role models. [Source: Australia Business Arts Foundation]

You can donate to the prize it’s tax deductable. Just click the source link above.

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It’s refreshing to know that when you don’t appear online for 2-3 days that people start questioning what’s happened. So nothing new to report other than I have a new computer, I knew computer which runs Windows 8 (Why Microsoft? Why?) and that needs all the flash little bits of software loaded on to be able to do the most basic of things (like write this post).

So this is a bit of a test post to …erm test that everything is going according to plan.

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Another beautifully understated cover by the talented Amanda Rainey and another wonderful collection from one of Australia’s talented crop of female writers.

I still don’t have a release date for it but it’s out sometime this year, coming in as volume 8 of the Twelve Planets Series.

Synopsis:

An Australian Air Force base patrolled by werewolves. A planet where wages are paid in luck. A future where copies are made of criminals to interpret their dark dreams. A medieval cavalry of mothers who are only permitted to take as many lives as they have created.

In every world, an imbalance of power. Something terribly askew between women and men, humans and wolves, citizens and constructs, light and dark.

In every world, asymmetry.

The TOC:

Introduction -Nancy Kress

After Hours

Zadie, Scythe of the West

Wish Me Luck

Seven Days in Paris

You will be able to purchase this volume from Twelfth Planet Press shortly, but if you are interested in the concept of 12 volumes of speculative fiction from as selection Australia’s top female speculative fiction writers, go here.

It’s worth noting that Thoraiya is eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

In Episode 2 Sean interviews Jodi Cleghorn author, editor and co-founder of eMergent Publishing. They talk about Jodi’s work in publishing, running charity events, and growing new authors. Then they focus on Jodi’s burgeoning career as a writer of quality short fiction.

Note: There has been a format change to single author interviews to allow faster production turnaround and to ease time pressures caused by your hosts’s new job.

Just a quick reminder to … erm remind you that a team of very dedicated creatives is undergoing a very wacky experiment in the name of science and entertainment.

The experiment proper has started and its interesting peering into the heads of Sean Williams and Jennifer Mills as they articulate feelings and relay observations of the effect of isolation and sleep deprivation.

Here’s a few choice snippets from Day 1:

I’m writing in my ‘free time’ between tests. These are checking my cognitive functions: response time, comprehension, and judgement. The tests are strange and very repetitive. There’s a device called a PVT which looks like it should be part of a 1980s robot. There’s a dinky little driving simulator (I crashed). Another test shows us the word Yellow coloured green, or the word Red coloured blue, and asks us to distinguish between the colour and the word. I already feel an estrangement between words and things. Partly in response to this, I have started to draw the objects in my room.

My ‘free time’ is neither, and soon interrupted for another test. Addition and subtraction. When my screen reads “2+2=” I think of Winston Smith, my imaginary companion in this dim cell. Should I put 5? Only the scientists have the answer.

Jennifer Mills

After our tour and intro, we settled in for a practice run. (Have I used “practice” right? This is something I always get wrong, and now I can’t check. Life without the web is going to be tough, particularly as the protocol kicks in and our brains melt into mud. As Jenn says, let’s have an embargo on typos, okay?) The tests are not especially riveting, but that’s not unexpected either. The first is a test of our response times (“PVT” it’s called, I found out later: Performance Vigilance Task). We hold a box and push a button when the screen lights up. A number tells us how fast we reacted. I already hate this test, because the box is heavy and it involves both my hands, and I have to sit grimly in place for ten minutes. It feels like an hour. At the end of the first run, my muscles were screaming. My results were slightly slower than average, but that could be because I was using my left hand. Or I was too distracted by the discomfort to pay attention properly. Or I’m just rotten at it.

Sean Williams

and from Day 2:

After an age, instructions come through the intercom on the wall above my bed: Keep your eyes open for thirty seconds (am I allowed to blink? I have to blink. I’m blinking. I’m not in trouble for blinking!); blink five times slowly (Ah, sweet blinking). Winston would remember this bit. At last, with much gratitude, the lights go down to “moonlight setting” and I sleep until Scientist Xuan wakes me. It’s long enough to dream a little. The only thing I remember about my dreams is that I played the role of babysitter. Waking, I feel more like the baby. Xuan tells me I will be put back to bed again after a short time. This means the electrodes stay in, and I rush to the bathroom to see what I look like. I look like this:

Jennifer Mills

The sound of air-conditioning could be fake. I deduced this while doing some stretches. The ever-present hissing sound is actually coming from what appears to be a speaker set into the ceiling, near the vent. My guess is they’re pumping in white or pink noise to cover up the sounds around us (the centre is on a very busy arterial road) and perhaps for some psychological benefit, too, as background noise helps the mind function under some circumstances. When I asked about, I got a weird reaction, like it was a big secret. Like I had opened the wrong door and seen THE ALIENS. I changed the subject immediately. Who wants to be put in the grinder for KNOWING TOO MUCH? (Alternatively, that “speaker” is an intake vent, which might explain why I can’t feel any air movement when I put my hand near it. That’s the sane explanation.)

Sean Williams

Please do go and read all the entries(start here). It’s interesting comparing the subjects observations which often parallel each other. And it’s amazing how quickly thoughts seem to edge slowly toward paranoia.

Note: “The Subjects” experiment is being run and the participants observations published by the Australian Network for Art & Technology (ANAT). The material quoted here is published under a Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

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Feb 11, 2013

This poem was born out my attempts to wrangle something in iambic pentameter, still not sure if I have it down right technically but I like it.

I composed it on my evening walk, which usually would have been easy, as I walk with an mp3 player that has a record function.

I have, however, been doing longer walks, the end result being zero battery.

So I had to hold each line in my head as I worked out the words and metre for the next . Not as hard as I thought it would be, and perhaps testament to the power of patterns to help in memorising oral compositions.

Anyway I'll stop blathering.

Gold to withered grey

The fields have gone from gold to withered grey

The sky’s a rainless dome of pastel blue

Eucalypts loose their limbs with sweet regret

Clench-toothed, hard-lipped, the farmer breathes her curse

And the wise Elect, reign from feathered nest

Fiddling fools, their Get must learn to live on dust

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The excellent Night Creatures series by Marianne de Pierres – Burn Bright , Angel Arias and Shine Light will be available in eBook form on Amazon at the end of March.

Previously its only been legally available in electronic form in Australia and New Zealand. Which I am sure has been frustrating for Marianne and some of her international fans.

I have read Burn Bright, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found it to be a fascinating mix of teen Goth culture, social comment, sci-fi action and adventure. It’s one of those books that can be enjoyed by adults and mature teens. A boo that has something to say without beating you around the head with it.

All your Space Marines belong to us

Games Workshop pick the low hanging fruit in an over reaching move to enforce a ridiculous trademark infringement.

RT @mcahogarth: In the Future, All Space Marines Will Be Warhammer 40K Space Marines... Unless We Do Something. http://mcahogarth.org/?p=10593Joyce Chng (JDamask)

Last night I wandered across this retweet from Urban Fantasy author Joyce Chng. Now for those of you not well versed in table top gaming Games Workshop was a small games company that started England the year I was born. Its founders included Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson of Fighting Fantasy game book fame (ie choose your own adventure with dice). The company has grown from small and humble beginnings to be listed on the London Stock Exchange see the wikipedia article for a concise history

Games Workshop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaGames Workshop (often abbreviated as GW) is an English game production and retailing company. Games Workshop is best known as developer a...

They are well known for producing high quality and expensive table top miniatures and for the last 20 years or so been carefully cultivating in their customer base to lead them away from the original scratch built do it yourself origins of recreational war gaming.

They provide you with everything you might need to play one of their games - from paints, to dice, to figures, to carry cases, to clothing. And woe betide anyone who tries to sneak in another companies paint in professional painting comps. If the well trained fan base doesn't stop you then they might send the boys around - the ones with ties and legal degrees.

They have saturated the market to the point where it's hard to get a tabletop game of anything else. Sure you can buy other games and figures but you'll find it hard to find competition outside of big cities. They also cottoned on to the software cycle of changing their rules versions every 3-4 years to "improve" the game and require even long time fans to buy whole new sets of rulebooks.

Now of course they have sought to make a grab at the term Space Marine, which has a long and accepted use in Science Fiction that predates their specific use of it. The seek to do this by attacking a small, self publisher who doesn't have the financial wherewithal to defend the attack. I few notables have commented:

Games Workshop trademark bullying goes thermonuclear: now they say you can't use "space marine" in science fiction http://dlvr.it/2vgcTNBoing Boing

Games Workshop is still claiming to own the trademark to "Space Marine." Time to get pissed off. http://on.io9.com/f0yciGQio9

If the author had lifted concepts, iconography, naming conventions from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, if it was thinly veiled fan fiction I could see the justification. A quick look at the cover and accompanying blurb doesn't seem to suggest that. They are entirely different sub genres of science fiction.

Spots the Space Marine: Defense of the FiddlerDaughter of two Cuban political exiles, M.C.A. Hogarth was born a foreigner in the American melting pot and has had a fascination for the...

Treacheries of the Space MarinesAfter cutting his teeth on Inferno! and Warhammer Monthly (the only comic book ever to win an Eagle Award and be canceled in the same wee...

One can only hope that this story generates such outcry that Games Workshop backs off. Otherwise what's next? History academics being sued over the publication of references to Emperors, The Imperial Guard? It's bully boy tactics and Games Workshop shareholders should be ashamed of the company.

I was walking along one of the country roads that border our property – a limestone base that’s been compressed to the consistency of concrete.

I was enjoying the cooler temperature and the audiobook of A Canticle for Leibowitz. The road is well used and it pays to keep your wits about you. The air was fairly still and I could hear a low murmur over the audio form my mp3.

An approaching car perhaps? No. As I got closer to a vacant property I realised it was the pines, seeming to whisper in a breeze I could barely feel. And so The Cant of Pines was inspired.

The Cant of Pines

Twilightin pink and blue.Needles sibilate in soft windAs I pause to learn the cant ofpines

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Feb 5, 2013

I was made aware some time ago of a project to place some creative folk under duress, in this case sleep deprivation, and then see how that effected creative outcomes. That project is begins on the 9th of Feb.

The Australian Network for Art & Technology (ANAT), in partnership with Central Queensland University’s Appleton Institute, is running The Subjects.

The participants are

Artists Thom Buchanan

and Fee Plumley

Author Jennifer Mills

and New York Times best selling novelist Sean Williams

They will be spending a week in residency at CQU’s Sleep Research Centre. Their sleeping patterns will be disrupted and they will be under constant surveillance.

And considering we live in a Big Brother future (though not quite the same one Orwell was thinking of) we can peer into the experimented minds and interact with the test subjects.

Today’s poem was inspired by the ruins of soldier settlers farm houses that can be found with in 50km of my farm.

The story as I have heard it told was that on returning from war in the Middle East soldiers planted date palms. In remembrance or as symbol of victory I am not sure, but for many of these houses all that remains are palm trees and the ruined remnants of limestone cottages.

Sentinel

Date palm

stands sentinel

o’er scattered stones, and dreams

long dreamt of boneless soils well tilled

by settled soldiers

If you want to monitor the rest of the crew participating in the Post-it note poetry thang search the #postitnotepoetry tag on twitter.

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Feb 4, 2013

Ok I’m at work today so this is a scheduled post. Feel free to comment critique etc. The ide behind the post-it note poetry thang is for the poet to not be constrained, to not have too much attachment, to not worry too much about getting it perfect but just enjoying letting the words flow.

So without further ado I give you Love. (and yes I still don’t have post-its)

Love

Love.

A heart made,

hand made thing, of quiet looks,

selfless actions, and needed things,

unasked for

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Folks new to the broad speculative fiction community may need a little background on what occurred at Readercon last August. I did two posts here. In short though the con had a Sexual Harassment Policy in place, an incident occurred and the organisation failed to follow though on its policy with the offending member.

After much discussion and good work from members within the organisation the situation was resolved and pledges were made to help improve future cons. Readercon as released an update on where they are up to in meeting those pledges here.

Well worth a look for other convention organisers and for those thinking of attending conventions, for an insight into what should perhaps be best practise.

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Western Australian Publisher Winterbourne Publishing has Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by Australian author Anneque Malchien.

I have only read one of Winterbourne’s titles, Bus Stop on A Strange Loop ny Shaun Webb Lafferty in late 2011. It’s good crunchy, time travel scifi, in a very well put together paperback.

I haven’t heard of Anneque but here’s the blurb on the book and some information about her.

Tearing the world apart will be their pleasureHaru is a refugee from another world, who has devoted his new life on Midgard to mending rifts and trying to help fallouts like him. Tenma is a young girl dying of the Fade, whose desperate fiancé will do anything to save. Their destinies entwine in this Manga-inspired doorstopper, by turns funny, thrilling and touching — but always full of adventure.

About the author:

Anneque Malchien lives in the Snowy Mountains where she enjoys a variety of escapism techniques, including writing, painting, video games, music and occasionally actually leaving. Her next holiday will be around Mongolia on horseback. When she returns home she intends to write a saga about giant robots roaming the post-apocalyptic Mongol steppes.

Going direct to the Winterbourne store will get you discounted prices. But I believe they are also available for purchase through Amazon

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Feb 2, 2013

I really had hoped to have two of my own podcasts released onto the world by the time the gang came back but as you know my internets disappeared. Ah well I shall soldier on.

In this weeks episode we hear that Alex got to got to Egypt and Turkey, Alisa went to Paris and Tansy enjoyed the break by podcasting on Dr Who.

They remind us that the The Galactic Suburbia Award:for activism and/ or communication that advances the feminist conversation in the field of speculative fiction in 2012 – will be announced in 2 weeks.

The rest of the show notes are here. I am saving this one for the long drive to my new job.